Tag Archives: Trans Mountain pipeline

Environment, Politics

When climate’s on B.C. communities’ agenda, fossil fuels firms turn up the heat

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Editor’s note: An alarming trend, observed in a body that funds the SRD.

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Oil and gas companies are still major sponsors at an annual municipal leaders conference even as B.C. reels from a provincewide drought and a fire season driven by climate change.

It’s a contradiction that dismays many municipal and political leaders attending the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) annual convention this week in Vancouver. 

Climate change is one of the top issues at the gathering, with local leaders slated to attend a host of workshops and provincial policy sessions on managing the risks and health impacts of wildfires, emergency disaster response and creating climate-resilient communities. 

Continue reading When climate’s on B.C. communities’ agenda, fossil fuels firms turn up the heat →
Energy

Trans Mountain wants higher tolls, and they won’t cover even half its price tag

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Trans Mountain wants to charge oil shippers more to use the Trans Mountain expansion pipeline (TMX), but those increased tolls wouldn’t cover even half of the project’s $30.9-billion price tag.

“There has never been an instance in any western country — that I’m aware of — where tolls have been set below the level required to cover the cost of the operation of a pipeline,” said Thomas Gunton, professor and director of the Resource and Environmental Planning Program at Simon Fraser University in B.C.

Continue reading Trans Mountain wants higher tolls, and they won’t cover even half its price tag →
Politics

‘There’s a reason we call ourselves Alberta’s NDP,’ says Van Tighem

By Laurie Tritschler, Shootin’ the Breeze, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Kevin Van Tighem, NDP candidate for Livingstone-Macleod, was careful to differentiate his party from its federal cousins when he addressed Pincher Creek’s mayor and council on Monday.

“There’s a reason we call ourselves Alberta’s NDP,” he said, recalling that party leader and former premier Rachel Notley “went to war” with Jagmeet Singh’s Canadian New Democrats after her government backed the federal Liberals’ Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project.

Continue reading ‘There’s a reason we call ourselves Alberta’s NDP,’ says Van Tighem →
Politics

Elizabeth May comes to Campbell River: Why Greens matter

Green Party leader Elizabeth May flew in from Ottawa on Saturday, May 6. She was the feature speaker at the North Island – Powell River Electoral District Association (EDA) AGM at the Maritime Heritage Centre in Campbell River. Around 60 people from Campbell River, Comox, Powell River, Port McNeil, Quadra Island and Cortes Island were in attendance.  

This is an edited transcript of her speech, and a couple of excerpts from the subsequent remarks made by local Green Party candidate Jessica Wegg.

Continue reading Elizabeth May comes to Campbell River: Why Greens matter →
Environment

Canada’s Environment Minister says the federal government will take a ‘long, hard look’ at upping its climate target following IPCC report

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As the world stares down an ongoing and rapidly worsening climate crisis, wealthy countries like Canada must hit the “fast-forward button” and push up their net-zero emissions deadlines to 2040, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said Monday.

Guterres’ remarks accompanied the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — the last of this decade — which shows the goal of keeping global warming under 1.5 C “is achievable,” he said. “But it will take a quantum leap in climate action.”

Continue reading Canada’s Environment Minister says the federal government will take a ‘long, hard look’ at upping its climate target following IPCC report →